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Plastic pollution negatively affects ecosystems and human health globally, with single-use plastic representing the majority of marine litter in some areas. Life science laboratories prefer pristine conditions for experimental reliability and therefore make use of factory standardized single-use plastic products. This contributes to overall plastic waste in the United States and globally. Here, we investigate the potential of reusing plastic culture dishes and subsequently propose methods to mitigate single-use plastic waste in developmental biology research laboratories. We tested the efficacy of bleach and ethyl alcohol in sterilizing used dishes. We then tested the feasibility of washing and reusing plastic to culture Xenopus laevis embryos subjected to various manipulations. Cleaning and reusing laboratory plastic did not affect the development or survival of X. laevis, indicating that these cleaning methods do not adversely affect experimental outcome and can be used to sterilize plastic before reuse or recycling. Lastly, we performed a survey of various life science laboratories to estimate both waste reduction and savings associated with recycling single-use plastics. Standardization of these procedures would allow research laboratories to benefit economically while practicing environmentally conscious consumption.
Fig. 1. Cleaning methods for reusing plastic culture dishes. A. Schematic illustrating the experimental design and different methods used to clean dishes. B. Means of OD 600 readings (+/-S.E.M.) of microbial cultures from indicated dishes. C. Means of OD 600 readings (+/-S.E.M.) of microbial cultures from dishes before and after cleaning with 70% EtOH. D. Means of OD 600 readings (+/-S.E.M.) of microbial cultures from dishes before and after cleaning with 10% bleach. E. Means of OD 600 readings (+/-S.E.M.) of microbial cultures from dishes before and after cleaning with dilute bleach. Error bars show +/-S.E.M. Data points show individual replicates.**indicates p < 0.001 (Pairwise T-test).
Fig. 2. Post-fertilization survival in cleaned culture dishes. A. Plot of average fertilization rates in dishes subjected to the indicated treatments. B. Survival curve in percentages of embryos fertilized and cultured in dishes subjected to the indicated treatments. Error bars show +/- S.E.M. C. Representative embryos from the experiments quantified in B. Anterior to the left and dorsal to the top. Scale bar: 1000 um. Numbers indicate prevalence of the observed phenotype. D. Plot of overall survival in dishes subjected to the indicated treatments. Error bars show +/-S.E.M. Data points show individual replicates.
Fig. 3. Post-manipulation culture of embryos in cleaned and reused culture dishes. A. Plot of average post-injection survival in dishes subjected to the indicated treatments. B–F. Representative embryos injected with 200ρg mCherry and LacZ then stained for β-gal (pink color). G. Plot of average anterior-anterior survival rates in dishes subjected to the indicated treatments. H-L. Representative images of embryos after joining anteriors and cultured until stage 45. M. Plot of average Nieuwkoop recombinants across four independent experiments that either extended (black bars), were alive but not extended (gray bars), or died (red bars) in dishes subjected to the indicated treatments. N-R. Results of one Nieuwkoop recombinant experiment with the highest survival across all treatments. Black arrows indicate regions of extension. Gray arrows show living recombinants that didn't extend. Red arrows indicate disintegrating recombinants. B,H,N. Embryos cultured in new dishes. C,I,O. Embryos cultured in dishes cleaned in 70% EtOH. D,J,P. Embryos cultured in dishes cleaned with 10% bleach. E,K,Q. Embryos cultured in dishes cleaned with dilute bleach. F,L,R. Embryos cultured in uncleaned dishes. Error bars show ±S.E.M. Data points show individual replicates. All scale bars: 1000 μm. Anteriors to the left and dorsal to the top in B–F and H-L. Numbers indicate prevalence of the observed phenotype.
